McBride scores in finale, Fire beat Chivas USA

Oct 24, 2010 - 6:12 AM
CARSON, Calif. (AP) -- Brian McBride scored in his final game and
Freddie Ljungberg added a goal and two assists to lead the
Chicago Fire to a 4-1 victory over Chivas USA on Saturday night.

"I'm very sentimental but my sentimentality was last week,"
McBride said of ceremonies in his final home game Oct. 16. "This
was about going out with my teammates and playing a good game, a
game we win."

Calen Carr and Baggio Husidic also scored for the Fire (9-12-9).
Giancarlo Maldonado scored for Chivas USA (8-18-4), which lost
its final three games and six of its last seven.

"We didn't have a lot of consistency," Chivas USA defender
Jonathan Bornstein said. "We added a lot of new guys in the
middle of the season and it's tough when you don't field the
same team (game to game)."

McBride, who played in three World Cups for the United States,
scored in the 40th minute with an assist from Ljungberg, who
played for Sweden in the 2002 World Cup.

Ljungberg took a throw-in, dribbled past two defenders in the
right side of the penalty area and passed to McBride, whose
7-yard shot with the back heel of his right foot settled inside
the left post.

"It's definitely not something I set out to do," McBride said of
his back-heeled shot. "But the ball was at a pace where I could
let it roll by me a little bit, and the defender was in front of
me and aside of me."

McBride's goal was his 80th in 220 games in Major League Soccer
for both the Fire and the Columbus Crew.

Carr replaced McBride in the 51st minute and they hugged as
McBride left the field. Then McBride looked into a television
camera, kissed his wedding ring and crossed himself before
hugging Fire coach Carlos de los Cobos.

"I've had a chance to express myself in a grateful manner to a
lot of people," McBride said. "The amount of thanks I got back
was just amazing. It was something I didn't expect."

Ljungberg made it 2-0 in the 47th minute with a 12-yard shot
inside the right post off Marco Pappa's left-wing cross.

Maldonado scored in the 58th minute on a 7-yard header inside
the right post before Carr converted a 7-yard shot off a
breakaway in the 68th minute. Husidic's 7-yard header in the
90th minute ended the scoring.

Fire defender C.J. Brown, who has been with the club since its
inception in 1998, also played his last game. Brown announced
his retirement Thursday.

Jonathan Bornstein made his last appearance for Chivas USA.
Bornstein, who played for the United States in this year's World
Cup, will move to Mexico's UNL Tigres next season.